Suspending beliefs is a dog-gone tough thing
I have four kids and two out of the four love watching movies (they are daddy’s favorites, the others are still on the clock). I watch a lot of kids films with them and they watch a lot of Star Wars films with me. I’ve been through the entire Disney collection more than once, so I’m very aware of what makes these kids happy. So with that said, we sat down and popped in Hotel For Dogs.
The story, if you don’t know it, is about two orphans named Andi and Bruce. Apparently their parents were killed and they were left behind hopping from one foster home to the next. They have learned to survive on their own by petty cons and what not, but they still hope to achieve more in life and ultimately find a home for themselves. Their current situation is with two helpless rockstars named Lois and Carl (who don’t care about them one bit). Anyway, they find themselves wanting to help lost dogs and eventually they end up in an abandoned hotel where dogs reside. They also meet up with a few more kids who help collect dogs, before the dog catchers do, and invent neat ways to service (not like that) dogs in this abandoned hotel. Thus, the Hotel for Dogs.
I don’t mind suspending my belief and sitting back and enjoying films with my kids. I have seen a bear in a jungle raising a human, talking dogs and a puppet made of wood trying to be a real boy. My kids loved those stories, I had fun knowing that my kids were enjoying them. This is one movie where my kids and I have come to the same conclusion… can this really happen? I know it sounds weird and I know it sounds wacky, but there are a few things that my kids just didn’t get that I have to bring up. Here they are broken down:
1. Cops really believe that the kids robbed an electronic store?
I know I didn’t mention it in the story summary, but it was a device used to move the story along, and not really important. So if it isn’t important why am I mentioning it? Well, the device is the thing that drives the kids into the hotel. Once drive into the hotel, the cops never revisit this again. I can forgive that the cops think that two 10-to-12 year old kids can break into a store and rob it (seriously, this is the best you could do?), but because they don’t revisit it, it’s tough to swallow. My kids are afraid of mean dogs, sharks in the bathtub, and ghosts. Do they really need to add cops to that list?
2. Are foster parents really like this?
We’ve all heard horror stories about foster parents, but if these two people (Carl and Lois) are really that bad, shouldn’t they have had the kids taken away? And, if Andi and Bruce have been to multiple foster parents, shouldn’t the local government who assigned Don Cheadle’s Bernie to these kids be seriously looked into and changed? Andi and Bruce may not find the comfort of home in some places, but after the second time it may not be them, it could be the lack of effort by Bernie. My kids questioned me about what ‘foster’ parents are. With this type of imagery what should I tell them? I simply asked, “Who wants ice cream?!” Question avoided.
3. The hotel is condemned (which has nothing to do with the Sega game).
The freaking hotel looks like it could carry asbestos in the hallways and could potentially be loaded with mold. How is this lovable and safe for kids? Not to mention, outside of Bruce and Andi, where are the other kids’ parents? They really don’t know that the kids are housing potentially dangerous animals in a condemned building? All of this is extremely far fetched and potentially dangerous for kids who may think this is a good idea. My kids simply said the building looked gross. I couldn’t agree more.
In the end, I do understand that this is a kids’ film. I understand that belief needs to be suspended or even beaten with a large biter biscuit for dogs. I get this, but all of this, combined with a very so-so story, really developed a so-so film. No amount of big name actors (such as Cheadle) can correct this. You can also make all the dogs as lovable as can be, but it doesn’t really help the storyline, which should have been a lot more airtight and comforting for kids than this.
Barking until blu in the face
Well, the redeeming factor of this film is that it was extremely colorful most of the time. Because of this, the HD looked really damn good and worked well visually. You get some fun audio too, especially with the big black dog that keeps barking when the window of the hotel room is shaded. That type of stuff really helped the movie and enhanced a very injured experience.
As for features, here’s what you’re looking at:
– Commentary by director and crew
– Making of Hotel for Dogs
– That’s the coolest thing I’ve Ever Seen!
– K-9 Casting
– Bark on Cue!
– Howl-arious Deleted Scenes
– The PEDIGREE Adoption Drive
The features are good, they’re very kid friendly. My kids didn’t ask as many questions with the features as they did with the feature itself. You won’t be disappointed or baffled with the features here, especially the Making of (which is really quite good).